Winning in Communications
WYNCOM founders Larry and Bunny Holman have found success in teaching others how to succeed in the business world

WYNCOM, the Lexington-based company that promotes success in the business world, is itself soaring to greater heights of success. For the second consecutive year WYNCOM has been in the top 50 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing privately-held companies in the nation.

At the head of the company are co-chairs Larry and Bunny Holman. "We've got three major values at WYNCOM," says Larry Holman. "Heart and soul in the workplace, world class customer service, and equality of the sexes." Larry and Bunny are equal partners in power and status within the company. "Bunny and I are proud that we model that equality," Larry adds.

The Holmans have also received one of the highest compliments that can be paid in the world of big business. In his new book, The Circle of Innovation, best-selling business writer Tom Peters wrote of the Holmans, "...I trust them...literally...with my life." WYNCOM handles all of Peters' 40 or so public seminars in the U.S. each year.

"Years ago," wrote Peters, "WYNCOM founders Larry and Bunny Holman came up with what turned out to be a fabulous idea: Fade into the background and cosponsor seminars with college and university executive education programs. Nobody has succeeded in copying Larry and Bunny! They're simply the best."

Fortune magazine has also developed a good deal of confidence in WYNCOM. The first Worldwide Lessons in Leadership Series, which originated from Lexington in 1996 and was tele-beamed via satellites to over 300 sites around the globe, was cosponsored by Fortune just within the U.S. market. For the 1997 Series and the upcoming 1998 Series, Fortune expanded to worldwide sponsorship. For these and other events, WYNCOM presents an impressive roster of authors/speakers whose ideas are at the forefront of innovative thinking in the business world: Tom Peters, Stephen R. Covey, Ken Blanchard, Kenichi Ohmae, Peter Senge, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, and Gary Hamel. The 1997 Series also included Peter Drucker, known as the father of management theory for his ground-breaking studies of corporate management in the 1940s.

Since the Holmans began running WYNCOM together in the early '90s, their personalities have shaped their roles in the company.

Larry brought to the company a working knowledge of telecommunications coupled with years of teaching and administrative experience in the University of Kentucky system. He is the visionary and navigator who charts the course into the future with ideas and inspirations that also translate into marketing concepts.

From her years as director of continuing education at Transylvania University, Bunny has an understanding of the intricate day-to-day needs of universities and colleges. She works at keeping relations running smoothly with the 140-plus colleges and universities that partner with WYNCOM. She ensures that all customers, course participants and host institutions are well served.

The work has both of them frequently in the air and on the road. In 1997, WYNCOM arranged for 152 in-person programs and two large teleconference events, one national in scope and the other international.

A crucial member of the WYNCOM team is Jerry Miller, president and CEO, who manages the day-to-day operations of the business. The company has about 130 full-time employees, and will employ as many as 100 temporaries for special projects. Corporate offices are located at Dudley Square in downtown Lexington; buildings on Upper Street and Pine Street support creative services and research and development. The facility that houses printing, product fulfillment, programs registration, database, warehousing, and distribution is doubling in size to 44,000 square feet with its move to Palumbo Drive. WYNCOM also has branch offices in Silverdale, Pennsylvania and Wilmington, North Carolina.

WYNCOM shows no signs of slowing down: It appears that revenues for 1997 will exceed $58 million. "We very much consider ourselves a growth company," says Greg Ray, chief financial officer for WYNCOM. Acquisitions are imminent, and Ray says that they will significantly add to the company's growth. "We're looking at growth for 1998 to be at 30-plus percent."

Larry Holman says that the new acquisitions will expand operations into video and audio recording studios. "Publishing also looks like a growth area for us," he adds. "We are talking about state-of-the-art training materials in the field of leadership and management. WYNCOM is headed for major diversification. Whatever makes sense will be pursued."

Campbell Wood is a staff writer for The Lane Report.

WYNCOM Bids Farewell to "Chief Rhino"

Arthur Light, executive vice president at WYNCOM, who headed up the collections department at WYNCOM for the last four years, is leaving the company. "He has been WYNCOM's senior statesman and chief rhino," says Larry Holman. "Every morning for ten years he has gotten up early, polished his horns, and charged massively in the pursuit of excellence on WYNCOM's behalf. He has been a diligent worker and a good friend." The rhinoceros has become WYNCOM's mascot, and Holman credits Light with that.

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